I am thinking next year that I am going to get started a bit on something I have been meaning to do for a while now. I grew up learning to appreciate some of the finer details of building and design thanks to my mother and my grandfather (her fater). My mother, and her sisters, are all very asthetically talented. They are able to envision things that don’t exist yet. It can be a home, a room, jewelry, funiture, or just about anything else. It is really amazing to see what they come up with. My grandfather was truly an amazing man. He only finished school up through the 4th grade, yet he was building a steam locomotive, from scratch (with no designs or blueprints) to put in the yard for his grandkids to play on. Of course he never finished, as was the case on many projects, but it was well within his capabilities. He could literally build anything from scratch. He could fix anything as well..which is probably why very few of his own projects ever got finished. People were constantly asking him to “help” them with things. Help usually meant do it for them and he was always too happy to oblige. His two passions in life were trains and boats. I inherited his love for trains at an early age and would spend hours, when in upstate New York at their home, gazing at the huge HO guage layout he had in the basement. There were boxes upon boxes of cars, buildings, models, kits, track pieces, transformers and tons of Lionel trains that were relegated to Christmas duty.

But, his biggest passion was for boats. Biggest in so many ways. He spent most of his time tinkering with his 42′ Matthews (like the one pictured here), that never seemed to be “done” or ready to take out onto the Hudson. He was a long-time member of the Albany Yacht Club, where he probably spent more time fixing other people’s boats than he did getting his own ready to take out onto the beautiful Hudson River. Most people think of the Hudson as a big polluted thing between New Jersey and New York City, but if you are fortunate enough to travel up this great waterway, as I did one summer aboard the Four Bells, you would probably just sit there in disbelief for most of your trip. The Hudson River Valley is one of this country’s best kept secrets and one that more people should definitely see in their lifetimes.

But, I digress. As many of my friends and family know, I inherited the “tinkerer” from my grandfather. I have been dismantling things since I could hold a screwdriver. Many times, they never seem to make it back together with all of their parts intact. But, I too share my grandfather’s passion for the great wooden boats of the first half of the 20th century. You don’t have to be an afficionado to appreciate the design lines and craftmanship that these great old boats exhibit.

A few years ago, well I guess it is more than a few years now, I drove up to Newport, Rhode Island, during the early fall. Driving up the eastern coast through Connecticut as the leaves were starting to turn, through Mystic and up into Rhode Island. Another thing that everyone has to do is drive the Merrick Parkway during this time of year. It is surreal to see the colors on the trees that frame the roadway. Newport, for those of you who don’t know, IS the boating mecca of the United States. There is so much history and boating heritage there that you are truly humbled. The 4 year olds know more about sailing and boating than any outsider does. We jumped on a 50′ daysailer and toured the Newport mansions from the water on a crisp October afternoon and I was hooked. What an incredible place. One thing that I took notice of, was a wooden boat building school. I am sure there are no shortage of them up there, but the one right along the waterway grabbed my eye. I remember wondering if I should just sign up right then and get on with it. Unfortunately, I didn’t.

But, the bug has returned and it doesn’t seem to be letting go this time. I subscribed to Wodden Boat Magazine earlier this year and I scour each volume over and over again. It is truly inspiring to look at these boats and new ones that people build themselves. So, I am thinking that next year, I will take the plunge an spent two weeks in Maine at the WoodenBoat School’s introduction to boatbuilding course. This isn’t some classroom deal where you look at pretty pictures. This is a real hands-on introduction to different wooden boat building techniques. It sound like it is right up my alley. I only fear that I will not want to leave…which may not be a bad thing at all.

If you made it this far, and you are wondering why I want to do any of this, I will show you the reason. One of my true loves is sailing although I have somehow manged to not get out onto San Francisco Bay yet now that I live here. The L. Francis Herreshoff Auxiliary Canoe Yawl, Rozinante. This is the boat I would not only like to build, but to sail as well.

tags: boatbuilding, herreshoff, matthews, rozinante, sailing, wooden boat